


you have so much light the plants grow towards you

by WinchesterBurger



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Awkward Flirting, Flirting Ralph, Flower Crowns, Kindergarten, M/M, Post-Revolution, Ralph loves flowers, Shy Jerry, Soft Ralph, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Tumblr Prompt, and seeing people happy, post-pacific ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-06
Updated: 2018-08-06
Packaged: 2019-06-22 20:05:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15589704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WinchesterBurger/pseuds/WinchesterBurger
Summary: Jerry doesn't like the stranger on the other side of the fence, but it turns out the stranger likes him.Eventually, it's mutual.





	you have so much light the plants grow towards you

**Author's Note:**

> me: *lacks sleep for a couple days because of hot temperatures and runs on coffee* I wanna die  
> also me: *opens a new file on google drive*
> 
> @umthisismyusernameiguess on tumblr requested Ralph x Jerry, so I thought - why not. I'm new to this ship, but it was a great pleasure writing this piece. It turned out better than I expected, and I hope you'll like it, too.
> 
> I'm not a native speaker, so please point out any mistakes you see. Enjoy!

Jerry doesn’t notice him at first. He’s too busy cleaning a scratched ankle of a crying five-year-old boy who tripped over a protruding root. It takes Jerry minimal effort to calm the child down and soon, the boy smiles with amusement, watching the android make funny faces at him, promising to be more careful next time, and he scurries away to his friends when Jerry decides he’s content with the answer.   
  
When he eventually _does_ notice him, it’s almost too late. The strange blonde android, one side of his face partially destroyed and dreadful, stands behind the fence with a small smile on his lips and a calm blue LED, head tilted as a little raven-haired girl chirps to him happily. He listens, yes, sometimes replies when asked, but he mostly just watches, fiddling with the sleeves of his floral shirt and looking curious. Jerry feels more alarmed than ever and nearly rushes headlong to scare the stranger, but then… The weird man sits. Crosses his legs on the cold pavement and wriggles for a moment to find a comfortable spot, and when he does, the girl sits on her side of the fence, too, and passes him a bunch of simple daisies through the gap of the fence. The android takes them with a grateful nod, and then it starts.   
  
Slowly, the long fingers wrap green stalks around each other, bringing the petals outside and composing them into a round shape, and after barely a minute a handful of flowers changes into a lovely white crown that Jerry can’t take his eyes off. When he finally does though, his gaze brushes over the stranger’s face, lit up with a gentle smile as the girl receives the artistic gift.   
  
“Thank you!” He hears her adorable high-pitched voice say, but his eyes stay at the blonde as he makes his way to the pair. The stranger glances up when Jerry’s close and the smile only widens. Jerry thinks the man’s right eye, the undamaged one, deeply hazel, is the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen.   
  
“Hello,” he starts, crouching next to the girl and eyeing the other android with interest. Grace turns to him slightly and shoves the flower crown into his hands for demonstration.   
  
“Ralph gave me this!” She points at the blonde and it clicks. The name’s Ralph. Jerry turns the crown a few times in his hands, looking it over and over until he decides it’s enough. Ralph’s eyes are set on him when he looks back, and Jerry can feel a blue blush creeping over his cheeks and nose. One of the other android’s eyes is pitch black with a peck of blue and shines oddly, but the hazel one seems warm. Perceptive.   
  
“It’s a really nice crown, Grace,” he replies, shifting a bit uncomfortably. He lifts his right hand and brushes it over the loose red strands that keep falling on his forehead. “Maybe you want to join your friends? I think I heard them talking about playing hide-and-seek. They’re waiting for you.”   
  
Grace’s face falls as her smart brown eyes fly to her new friend.   
  
“But Ralph…”   
  
“I think Ralph doesn’t mind, does he?” Jerry looks back at the man who lifts his eyebrows in a silent question, LED suddenly yellow. He’s really weird, almost creepy, yet Jerry finds him quite… handsome. Which is odd, but the android doesn’t spare it a second thought.   
  
The blonde suddenly turns his head to the girl, speaking in a peculiar manner. “Grace will see Ralph here tomorrow and Ralph will give her another gift, all right?”   
  
The words seem to satisfy the little girl though. She picks the crown from Jerry’s hands and makes her way to the group of children laughing under a tall apple tree, not before waving her goodbye to Ralph. Against Jerry’s worry, the blonde’s eyes don’t follow her; they settle on Jerry himself instead, and the red-haired android becomes even more abashed.   
  
“I’d prefer if you didn’t talk to the kids, sir.”   
  
“Ralph wants to apologize. He didn’t know it was bad. The girl was crying and Ralph wanted to make her happy again.” The blonde’s lips form a weak smile that shadows over his face in a sad way. Jerry’s hand twitches in his direction for unknown reason before he stops it.   
  
“Thank you, but you better go.”   
  
Later, he almost forgets to scold Grace about talking to strangers.

  


***

  


As he promised, Ralph appears behind the fence the next morning. Grace softly asks Jerry to let her greet her friend and he agrees, and goes with her. He likes to think it’s only for her safety, but a voice in his head says otherwise.   
  
“Hi, Ralph!” Grace nearly shouts as they approach the blonde man. He grins to them both, and Jerry tries and fails to fight back a shy smile. His eyes fall down to Ralph’s hands.   
  
“Two flower crowns?” He asks, confused. Ralph only nods and hands one of them to Grace – it’s smaller than the other; made of pink lilies and wild daisies, and looks a lot more complicated than the yesterday’s one. It’s sticking out above Grace’s ears when the girl puts it on her head cautiously, successfully pretending to be a real crown. Ralph really must’ve put a lot effort in this one.   
  
“You look like a princess now!” Jerry laughs amicably and touches a fresh, aromatic lily that eyes him from one side of her flower palace. It’s unbelievably soft under his palm, fragile like a china figurine and delicate as if made of air, and Jerry feels somewhat agitated as the smile leaves his features. He doesn’t like the prickling and well-nigh sore feeling in his chest. Ralph’s LED races a deep red when their eyes meet, and the scarred android seems to know what Jerry is thinking about. It feels more comforting than it probably should.   
  
“Who is the second crown for, Ralph?” Grace’s voice cuts off Jerry’s train of thoughts, and he sighs gratefully. The girl’s smart eyes are glued to the flower composition still held by the blonde android – the red-haired man’s artificial breath hitches when he looks at it, too.   
  
The crown would certainly cost a small fortune if it was put up for sale. It’s big, bigger than Grace’s head and its circle wider than Jerry’s wrist, but somehow doesn’t look trashy. Jerry doesn’t know much enough about plants to tell what kinds are braided into it, yet he recognizes violets and wild chamomiles, and purple roses, and figured carnation flowers. There’s a single gold ribbon, thin and long, placed between two especially pretty dandelions. Everything is kept in white, pink and yellow shades. Jerry feels charmed.   
  
“Ralph wants Grace’s teacher to take it. Ralph thinks he will look cute.”   
  
Jerry’s gaze snaps up to the other android and he’s sure his cheeks are the color of clear sky. “ _What_ ?”   
  
“Yes!” His question is swept away as Grace reaches for the floral masterpiece. He wants to stop her, to tell Ralph that he doesn’t want his gift, but his throat clenches painfully as the blonde smiles and his LED blinks a happy blue. Painfully and pleasantly, he realizes.   
  
Grace beckons him to bend down and carefully places the crown on the top of his head. To his surprise, it fits perfectly, as if made particularly for him, and sits right on each spot. If he was human, the weight of it would probably press a little disturbingly on his skin, but fortunately, it doesn’t bother him. He lifts his left hand and pushes a wave of messy red hair off his eyes.   
  
“Ralph was right. Grace’s teacher looks cute,” Ralph says as he leans over the fence and looks at Jerry attentively. From this close, the red-haired android can see a playful spark in the blonde’s hazel eye and decides it’s astonishing how many shades of one colour can hide in a single iris.   
  
“Jerry,” he murmurs in spite of himself. “Call me Jerry.”   
  
The change of Ralph’s face switches the look of his features from humorous to tender and at this point Jerry’s cheeks are practically burning. He’s surprised it didn’t set him on fire yet.   
  
Grace claps her hands once and sends her teacher a look of complete wonder. “You look really pretty! Right, Ralph? Like an elf from a fairy tale!”   
  
“Grace is right. Like an elf from a fairy tale,” the blonde android repeats, tilting his head.   
  
“That’s enough.” Jerry pinches a bridge of his nose in shyness. “But thank you both.”   
  
He’s reluctant to leave, but he knows he eventually has to. Grace presumably wants to show her friends her newest flower crown which will likely make them all jealous and he’ll have to deal with a group of demanding young ladies, but he feels exceptionally comfortable, standing across the mysterious and strangely attractive android whose LED suddenly shimmers in yellow, indicating that he’s processing something. The red-haired doesn’t have to wait long to find out what.   
  
“Ralph is wondering if Jerry has free time after work. He’d like to spend some time with him.” Ralph is grinning widely, almost amused, however Jerry somehow knows that this is not an ordinary proposition. He’s never been on a date, never been suggested one, but a vision of spending more time with this particular android seems tempting.   
  
“I do,” he replies, earning a sweet, sweet smile from the blonde. “Meet me here at five.”   
  
“Ralph will be here,” is the only response he gets before the other android says his goodbye to Grace and leaves, but for some reason it’s enough.   
  
Throughout the day, his fingers brush the heavy flower crown set on his head so often that the petals are beginning to limp, nonetheless they’re still standing proudly when he makes his way to the familiar figure standing just behind the gate.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Come say hi on tumblr! [@someonefromthere](https://someonefromthere.tumblr.com/)


End file.
